Bristol County Mosquito Control Project submits 2013 report to Taunton City Council

In an effort to combat the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as EEE, the Bristol County Mosquito Control Project sprayed more than 24,000 acres in 2013, according to a report submitted to the Taunton City Council.

In an effort to combat the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as EEE, the Bristol County Mosquito Control Project sprayed more than 24,000 acres in 2013, according to a report submitted to the Taunton City Council.

The Taunton City Council is expected to officially receive the report at its upcoming meeting Tuesday.

"It was a better season this year than it's been in the past," Bristol County Mosquito Control Superintendent Jennifer Dacey said. "Sometimes we have a few good years where it isn't as prevalent, then the virus will spike. Lately in the past five years, there hasn't been a pattern,"

Statewide, there was one human case of EEE, or eastern equine encephalitis, in 2013. It resulted in death. There were no human cases of EEE in Bristol County.

Those levels are down from 2012, when there were seven human cases and three deaths statewide, none of which were in Bristol County.

The last human case of EEE in Bristol County came in 2011, when Martin Newfield of Raynham died after contracting the illness.

Bristol County saw eight human cases of West Nile virus in 2013 and one in 2012, none of which were fatal.

In 2013, there were 29 EEE-positive mosquito pools in Bristol County, compared to 100 in 2012. A pool is a sample of up to 50 mosquitoes collected at a particular location and isolated by species. During 2013, 28,610 individual mosquitoes were tested in Bristol County.

"A lot of our positives are in the northern part of the county because they have the Hockamock Swamp up there," Dacey said.

EEE-carrying mosquitoes typically breed in maple and cedar swamps and primarily feed on birds' blood. Species that carry West Nile virus are often more prevalent in urban areas, where they breed in catch basins, she explained.

Species of mosquitoes that feed on both bird and mammal blood are the biggest threat to transmit EEE to humans, Dacey said.

Bristol County Mosquito control, which has a 2014 budget of $1.29 million, is continuing work year round to reduce mosquito breeding areas through water management, Dacey said.